On a typical day, Audrey Banez-Beltran, 34, of San Bruno, CA, drops her kids off at preschool, rushes home, and throws in a load of laundry so it can wash as she works her full-time job, handling customer service and social media remotely for an online poster company, PosterMyWall. At lunch, she'll squeeze in a Trader Joe's or Target run, then hurry back to answer more customer emails. On her breaks or at night after the kids are in bed, she'll handle client orders for her side job, selling skin-care products for Rodan + Fields.

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A former paralegal, Audrey began picking up side work when she switched full-time careers—working in customer service gave her greater flexibility but also meant a pay cut. Now, her cosmetics sales bring in more than $4,000 a year and supply her "fun money" fund: cash, kept in a separate bank account, for dining out with friends, picking up a fancy lipstick, or splurging on gifts, guilt-free. One recent study showed that women working flexible jobs are more efficient than other workers—which is no surprise to Audrey, who's adept at squeezing every drop of productivity out of a day.

But she also says her work is rewarding. "I've had customers rave about their newfound confidence due to a change in their skin care," she says. "I know it's not life or death, but I still feel like I'm making a difference."

We've all thought, If only I made a little more money, but some women have said to themselves, I bet I can. They're bringing in extra cash by working hard—and, more important, working creatively. It's not for the hit-snooze types among us, but it's more doable than ever. All you need is a little advice from manage-it-all women like Audrey on where to job-hunt, what to watch out for, and how to make the most of every minute. Major side-bucks, right this way.

Where the extra money is

Not long ago, earning income outside of a traditional 9 to 5 would most likely have meant physically getting yourself to a second job, but over the past five years, the number of people making extra cash at home has grown tremendously, says Kate Lister, president of Global Workplace Analytics, a consulting and research firm.

"The biggest increase in remote, part-time jobs, by far, is in customer service," says Christine Durst, a staffing expert and founder of ratracerebellion.com, a site that helps workers find legitimate work-at-home jobs. Companies had turned overseas for customer service employees, but after customer complaints, many are bringing these positions stateside again, she says. Instead of renting out huge buildings, they are hiring home workers, many of whom pull flexible shifts for big-name companies you've no doubt heard of (and called!): places like 1800Flowers.com, JetBlue, and Pizza Hut. Apple alone employs nearly 9,000 at-home IT specialists.

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In fact, telework in general grew nearly 80 percent from 2005 to 2012, according to a recent report from Global Workplace Analytics, which also estimates that 3.9 million Americans will work from home at least one day a week by 2016, and 50 million will do so by 2018. "The hurdles to working unconventional part-time hours, in an unconventional workplace, are shifting," says Jim Hoen, vice president of Kelly Services, a staffing agency, and leader of its work-at-home division KellyConnect, which placed 24,000 people in work-from-home positions last year, many of them part-time or shared jobs. "The ease of farming out small bits of work remotely means there are more part-time jobs available. In most cases, all you need is an Internet connection."

So—great news—companies are clearly looking to hire more part-time talent, but how does someone hook up with them? There are a slew of reputable websites that help people find remote, part-time work in all sorts of fields: accounting, finance, education, tech, nonprofit, even nursing. Matchmakers for your dream side career include sites such as upwork.com, freelancer.com, and guru.com. And here's a reason to love your smartphone even more: You can pick up extra cash wherever with new apps that pay you to complete small tasks from your cell. Try downloading EasyShift (see sidebar, page 112), which pays you to collect tiny pieces of data near your location, such as snapping a photo of a menu in a restaurant or reporting on the price of milk at your local drugstore.

Are you ready to hustle?

Even if finding side gigs is getting easier, figuring out how to squeeze them in around a full-time job still requires a fair amount of perseverance and ingenuity. No one knows that better than Angela Marchesani, 36, a single mother who works full-time as program manager for the Women's Resource Center in Wayne, PA, and has tried about 10 side jobs over the last seven years. "Landing the right one can require a lot of trial and error," she says. At first, it was hard for her to know which part-time position would be a good fit and which would pay enough money to be worth the extra hours. "You need to be willing to step out of your comfort zone," Angela says, but you also need to know when to move on.

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The first gig she found was as a research subject to help test beauty products. The pay was good, she says, but ultimately the gig was a bust: "I have sensitive skin! I couldn't continue doing it unless I wanted to be a blotchy mess." Since then, she's babysat, sold cosmetics, written social media posts, and handed out skin-care samples at Whole Foods, pocketing about $70 for three hours of work. With her master's degree, she was even able to land an adjunct teaching position at a two-year college, teaching evening classes and grading papers on her "off" nights. "It's all about keeping your eyes open and telling yourself, Hey, maybe I can do that." Angela makes about $6,000 annually from her side work, and recently added another gig: She heard about someone living nearby who wanted meals prepared and delivered once a week. "I'm a mom who cooks a lot anyway, so I thought, Why not?"

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Despite the myriad jobs she works during any given week, Angela's full-time work helping local girls and women at the Resource Center has never suffered. "The center has me at my peak, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.," she says—but the true cost of her side work is the time she loses with her son when he can't come along on a job. Plus, paying for extra transportation, child care, or both can quickly negate the boost from part-time income, so she's learned to choose her gigs carefully. "It's a lot to handle," Angela says, "so I prioritize assignments with flexible hours and those that can be done from home. That's how things around the house like homework and laundry actually get accomplished."

Make your side job work for you

Like everything else in life, moonlighting successfully depends on finding—you know this—balance. It can be all too easy to find yourself working until midnight for weeks on end, growing bitter that you're three weeks behind on your favorite TV shows (Empire doesn't get better when it sits in your DVR) and haven't had a minute to yourself.

Allison Hanrahan, 28, of Des Moines, IA, started dog-sitting through the site rover.com last fall, with the goal of easing the sticker shock of her upcoming wedding. It brought in steady extra cash, but she and now-husband Ryan soon realized that caring for anxious dogs who are missing their families can be exhausting. So the couple scaled back from pet-sitting every week to only two weeks a month. Even so, they earn $4,000 in a year. "We love the work, and get requests for a lot more bookings, but it's important to take a break," she says.

Having several jobs can be incredibly demanding, so you need to know your limits, says Crystal Paine, author of the new book Money-Making Mom. Before taking on any extra work, comb through your budget to eliminate waste and make sure you're not taking on extra hours unnecessarily. "You may realize, Oh, wow, we only need $200 more a month, not $1,000," she says.

Also, make an effort to schedule time that's not work-related and just for you. Audrey, the customer-service and direct-sales worker, goes to hula and Tahitian dancing classes at a studio near her house twice a week. She schedules them for after 7:30 p.m. so she's not cutting into dinner time with her kids—and thereby upping the chances she'll actually go. "I need that time to lose myself in dance," she says. "Then I come home refreshed."

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And think carefully about whether to turn a hobby you love into a job. It can be terrific: Lauren Dahl, 35, of Portland, OR, who loves sewing, started teaching online sewing pattern classes as a way to generate extra income while staying home with her three kids, and now she makes more money from her current patternmaking gig than she did working full-time in corporate marketing. But don't be fooled; she works her heart out. Is your hobby just that—or could it be your life? "Ask yourself, What job could I do that I can talk about until I am blue in the face?" says Paine.

For single mom Angela, the answer to Paine's question came unexpectedly one winter. With no money for Christmas gifts, Angela decided to paint wine glasses and give them away as presents. Family and friends loved them, and she was soon selling glasses to friends of friends, then to a local winery, and before she knew it she was hosting glass-painting parties at night and on weekends.

"I truly enjoy it," Angela says of her side work. "And it's one more way to ensure my family has a little extra, so my son can do Cub Scout activities and we can go out to dinner once in a while." Plus, Angela says, "I'm approaching my goal to be debt-free one year from now." Sure, having side jobs in addition to a day job is demanding, she says, "but it also means I have the best of both: Working multiple jobs allows me to be financially secure and follow my passions in a way a single job on its own just couldn't. If that's not rewarding work, I don't know what is."

The Voorhes

The side gig

If you're looking for extra work, see if any of these callings fit your personality type.

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PEOPLE PERSON?

Try: Customer service or direct sales. With call centers moving back stateside, many companies are hiring home workers, who work shifts as short as three or four hours. Agencies like ContractWorld, Sutherland Global, Convergys, and Arise hire for big retailers.

Pay: $8.50 to $20 per hour. (The higher-end rates usually require more cold-call sales.)

Great because: Hours are flexible and working at home is no issue.

Drawbacks: Dealing with customers can require superhuman patience and a grin-and-bear-it personality.

PET LOVER?

Try: Dog-sitting. After interviews and reference checks, you can list yourself on rover.com or dogvacay.com, both of which match pet owners with sitters or host families.

Pay: Set your price. It typically ranges from $20 to $45 per night. Each site charges a 15 percent fee.

Great because: It's fairly passive work, and fun if you love dogs.

Drawbacks: If you're hosting a dog, there's the possibility of destructive behaviors and, of course, fur.

BUSINESS WHIZ?

Try: Freelance business consulting. Hourlynerd.com matches up high-profile companies with independent business consultants on a per-project basis.

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Pay: Averages $75 to $300 per hour.

Great because: "It's a fantastic way to tap into more diverse projects than I'd be able to get through my own network," says mom and business school graduate Marisa Goldenberg, 39, of Austin, TX.

Drawbacks: While there are some projects in law and other fields, most require an MBA.

CRIME-SHOW BUFF?

Try: Online-juror case reviews. To prep for trial, attorneys use services like onlineverdict.com and ejury.com to run their cases by mock jurors, who get paid. It's like making money watching Law & Order!

Pay: Varies, but can be about $20 for 20 to 60 minutes of time.

Great because: Unlike real jury duty, you can choose when to do it.

Drawbacks: Volume of work depends on how many attorneys use the service in your area.

THE CHATTY TYPE?

Try: ESL tutoring. You don't need a teaching degree to tutor English as a second language to students via video chat. Try cambly.com or wetutorenglish.com.

Try: Digital earning task apps and sites. Make extra cash while going about your regular shopping. An app called EasyShift asks you to complete micro-tasks while in a store, such as verifying a product is in stock. Sites like Swagbucks also offer payouts for taking surveys, watching videos, and shopping online.

Pay: EasyShift pays $2 to $35 per task. Swagbucks users can earn 8 to 15 cents per Web search or 50 cents to $2 for surveys.

Try: On-demand delivery. Turn your minivan into a cash-mobile. Through roadie.com, you can book local or interstate delivery jobs.

Pay: $8 to $200 per gig depending on distance, urgency, and size of delivery. You pay for gas, but the miles are tax-deductible.

Great because: The hours and assignments are flexible. "I mostly deliver locally, but I'm not restricted to my state, so I can go farther for more money," says Atlanta-based Desiree Bostick, 34.

Drawbacks: Wear and tear on your vehicle.

The Voorhes

Make your side job work for you

SCAM-SPOTTING. Thousands of "toxic" online job listings are out there, says Christine Durst, who tracks them and consults for the FBI. She puts the ratio of scams to legit gigs at 60 to 1. To find the real jobs:

USE H.R.-SPEAK WHEN YOU JOB-SEARCH. Instead of typing work at home into a search engine, try phrases like this is a work-from-home position to dramatically increase the quality of results. "Scammers don't write in full sentences. They just scream, 'Make money! Work from home!'" Durst says.

IGNORE OUT-OF-THE-BLUE EMAILS. Scammers hoping to trick you into giving up bank account or identity info have been known to target people who list themselves on job-search sites, pretending to be potential employers and asking for personal info. Never click on links from random emails, Durst says. Look to see if the company has a quality website, which scammers won't invest in, and make sure phone numbers and a real address are listed.

NEVER FRONT MONEY. An employer asking for "investment capital" is a red flag, Durst says. However, to work as an independent contractor for a customer service center, you may have to pay about $100 for training, or $45 for a background check—but only after you are offered the job. If you're on staff, you shouldn't have to pay at all.